Guidance on food traceability, withdrawals and recalls within the UK food industry

Consultation subject

The subject of this consultation is guidance which assists food businesses in complying with food law and provides advice and supporting tools to food businesses and food enforcement authorities in dealing with food safety withdrawals and recalls. The guidance outlines legal requirements and includes best practice advice.

Consultation purpose

In 2017, research was carried out to understand the food withdrawal and recall systems within the UK. This included some recommendations for improvement. The Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, in partnership with key stakeholders from the food industry, food enforcement authorities, consumer organisations and trade bodies are addressing the recommendations, this includes the development of guidance to strengthen and improve the overall effectiveness and resilience of the UK’s food withdrawal and recall system.

There have been no changes to the policy, science or law.

The new guidance aims to:

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of key players involved in food safety withdrawals and recalls
• provide best practice guidance to help food businesses make consumer recall notifications more consistent and accessible
• help industry make trade communications consistent and effective
• develop and implement systematic root cause analysis procedures for industry in the event of food safety incidents

The guidance has been developed using a multi-stakeholder working group approach. We have determined that a 4-week consultation is proportionate to seek wider stakeholder views.